One of the major considerations for any trip is how much it will cost. For bucket-list destinations like the Caribbean national parks, your budget can decide if and when you will travel. In this article, we’ll take a look at exactly how much it costs to visit the Caribbean national park sites.
Of course, every person/family differs in their travel style and, thus, their expenses.
But, we want to give you an idea of how much it cost us to do this trip so you can plan for yourself.
A few notes:
- Our expenses are for two adults (no children).
- We traveled in July, which is typically part of the low season.
- We tried to keep expenses relatively low but did not skimp on anything in particular.
- I’ve noted anywhere we used credit card rewards points or other savings.
We use the Monarch budgeting website (and app) to track all of our spending. I pulled our exact expenses and tallied them up to come up with the totals below. So, this is as accurate as it can be to our actual spending.
(Disclaimer: When we link to places where you can buy our stuff or places we stayed, we are using special codes that earn us commissions on the sales at no additional cost to you. Please see our Review Policy for more information.)
Our Caribbean National Parks Itinerary
There are a total of six national park sites in the Caribbean. One is in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The other five are in the US Virgin Islands: two in St. John and three in St. Croix.
I wrote a one-week itinerary for visiting these six Caribbean national park sites over seven days (six nights). That itinerary includes two nights in San Juan, two nights in St. Croix and two nights in St. John. That is the bare minimum you need to see all six park sites.
Honestly, though, I’d suggest you take at least 9-10 days total. Even just giving yourself one additional day on each island allows a bit more flexibility and opportunity to enjoy some of the other great sites on each island.
The itinerary we followed was slightly different from the one I wrote. We spent three nights each in St. Croix and St. John. In Puerto Rico, we attended a conference in San Juan and then spent nearly a week touring the rest of the island. Thus, our trip was a total of 18 days.
For this article, I’ll include our entire time in St. Croix and St. John but only two nights’ worth of expenses in San Juan. That is a total of eight nights and nine days.
So, let’s dive in and see just how much we spent visiting the national park sites in the Caribbean.
St. Croix Expenses: $2,298.58
There are three park sites in St. Croix: Christiansted National Historic Site, Buck Island Reef National Monument and Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve.
Check out my detailed article on visiting St. Croix’s three national park sites.
Flight: $571.80
We started our trip in St. Croix, flying from Atlanta. The actual flight cost was $695.60 on American Airlines. That was offset by a travel credit from the Capital One Venture X card, so our out-of-pocket expense was only $571.80.
Hotel: $748.01
We spent three nights at the Company House Hotel, which we booked through the Citi Travel Portal. That allowed us to take advantage of the $100 off a $500 stay benefit. So, the full hotel cost was $848.01 or $282.67/night.
Food: $492.75
Our food expenses ended up being way higher than I anticipated. But, we did go out to full-service restaurants every night, getting two entrees and 1-2 drinks each. I also included our meals and snacks for our travel day.
So, this total of $492.75 included breakfast for four days (travel day and three days in St. Croix) and three days of lunch and dinner. We had dinner on the waterfront in Christiansted each night. Additionally, we got ice cream one night and after-dinner drinks at a pub one night.
This also included a few snacks that we picked up. Additionally, we bought bottled water for our time in St. Croix, since the local water typically isn’t safe to drink if it isn’t filtered due to high levels of lead and copper. The island is working to fix this, so hopefully the water will be safe to drink soon.
Tour to Buck Island Reef National Monument: $226.20
Unless you have your own boat, the only way to reach Buck Island National Monument is on a tour. There are several different authorized concessionaires for tours. We did ours with Big Beard’s Adventure Tours and it was great!
Originally, we had the all-day sailing tour booked, which was an additional $80 ($40 each). Weather conditions forced the captain to cancel that tour, so we ended up being refunded the difference. Thankfully, the main difference in the tours is the all-day tour includes lunch.
The half-day tour is on a catamaran rather than a sailboat, so it was still able to make the trip. We did experience some rough seas, though, so we completely understood why they made the change.
While we were looking forward to the full-day tour, the shorter tour was just fine and we still had plenty of vodka rum punch!
The total cost listed above includes the tip we left for the captain and crew. It was a great tour and we highly recommend Big Beard’s.
Rental Car & Gas: $91.63
Getting a rental car was actually a last-minute decision for us. But, we decided that was the best way for us to reach Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve. We probably could have gotten a taxi but I don’t think it would have saved us much, if any, money.
Additionally, even though we only had the car for about six hours, it was still plenty of time to drive the perimeter of the island. We really enjoyed having the freedom to explore on our own!
We rented from Centerline, which has an office within walking distance of downtown Christiansted.
Taxi: $40
Since we did not have a rental car for the entire trip, we got a taxi from the airport (near Fredericksted) to our hotel in Christiansted. This was a shared van with one other couple.
I will note that we overtipped on the base price since all we had was $20 bills.
Miscellaneous: $128.19
The majority of this was the Lyft from our apartment to the airport, which was $91.19.
Our only other expenses were for sunscreen, Dramamine and a few stickers ($37). Sadly, the bookstore for Christiansted National Historic Site was closed, so we weren’t able to get our standard magnet souvenir from any of the parks.
At least we have our memories!
This brings our total expenses in St. Croix to $2298.58 for three nights. We probably could have found a cheaper hotel but that might have meant farther from town, which would have caused us to spend more on a rental car or taxis.
Additionally, I’m sure we could have saved some on food. But, this was the start of our trip, so we really just wanted to enjoy it. Eating right on the water every night was really nice and it certainly was a great way to start our trip.
Note: If you’re keeping track, we saved $223.80 on the flight and hotel using rewards from Capital One and Citi.
St. John Expenses: $1,923.30
There are two park sites in St. John: Virgin Islands National Park and Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument.
Read more about what to see and do at Virgin Islands National Park and around St. John.
Flight, Taxi and Ferry: $310.60
There are no airports in St. John, so getting there is a little difficult. I promise it’s worth it!
The best way to reach St. John is to fly to St. Thomas, and then take the ferry to St. John. The ferry ride is only about 20 minutes.
We took the seaplane from St. Croix to St. Thomas, which was $198. That cost a little more than the commercial flight but not much. And it was definitely worth the extra expense! If you are traveling light, I highly recommend taking the seaplane.
A taxi from the seaplane terminal to the ferry terminal was $40. Again, we overtipped on the base price since we still only had $20 bills.
We purchased round-trip ferry tickets, which were $32.60.
Finally, we spent another $40 getting to the St. Thomas airport upon our departure.
Lodging: $641.25
We stayed at the Cinnamon Bay Resort and Campground for three nights for a total of $641.25 or $213.75/night.
The campground offers a variety of glamping tents and cottages. We had an Oceanside Eco-Tent which was literally just steps from the beach.
The location was absolutely fantastic and well worth the expense. I don’t think we really could have found anything less expensive that was that close to the beach. The tradeoff was that the tent did not have air conditioning.
It did have a fan and electricity, though. And, it had fantastic beach views. Walking down for sunset was amazing. Seeing deer, mongoose and even donkeys from the tent was pretty cool, too.
Food: $489.06
Again, food was a considerable cost for us. And, this included us doing a couple of late-lunch/early-dinner combination meals. But, we still didn’t go out of our way to truly save money.
Our food included breakfast at the campground for three mornings, lunch one day while driving around the island and on our departure day to Puerto Rico. It also included dinner for three nights.
Additionally, we got a few snacks both at the grocery store and at the camp store. Those camp store snacks definitely cost more than we anticipated. But, it was convenient, so worth it for us.
Finally, all of our dinners included 1-2 drinks each and a couple also included appetizers.
Car Rental & Gas: $355.39
We rented a car for our entire three-night stay in St. John. I’d say most people visiting St. John will want to rent a car. You can get a taxi to the main beaches of Virgin Islands National Park but if you want to explore the historic ruins or do any hiking, it’s best to have a car.
Additionally, you’ll need a car to reach the tiny land portion of Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. The other option would be to take a snorkeling tour. That would certainly cost you more than one day’s worth of a car rental, though.
Even with driving into town each day and all over the island, we still only used one tank of gas. This expense broke down to $311.25 for a three-day Jeep Rental from Mr. Piper’s Jeeps and $44.14 for gas.
Miscellaneous: $127
Other costs included $36 to rent snorkel gear for one day at Cinnamon Bay. We also got a few souvenirs – a hat for Grant and a shirt for me, plus a couple of stickers.
Lastly, we did laundry in St. Thomas ($9) before going to Puerto Rico. For this trip, we only took our carry-on backpacks and about 6 days’ worth of clothes.
This brings our total in St. John to $1,923.30 for three nights.
San Juan, Puerto Rico Expenses – $1,447.26
There is one national park site in Puerto Rico: San Juan National Historic Site.
We actually stayed in San Juan for five nights to attend a conference. But, we did visit the San Juan National Historic Site one day before the start of the conference. I’ve compiled our expenses for two nights and one full day since that is really all that is needed to visit this park site.
Read more about visiting the San Juan National Historic Site.
There are many other great things to do in San Juan and around Puerto Rico, though. You can easily spend more time (and money) here!
Flight: $0
The actual cost for the flight from St. Thomas to San Juan was $176.20 on Silver Airways. We had no out-of-pocket expense, though, thanks to our annual $300 travel credit with the Capital One Venture X card.
This is one of our favorite credit cards. The travel credit offsets the majority of the $395 annual fee. Additionally, we earn unlimited 2x points, 10x points on travel, get airport lounge access, credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, 10,000 bonus miles each year and more.
We have several travel rewards cards and this is one that we get a lot of use out of. It’s a great “entry-level” premium rewards card.
Looking for a good credit card to earn travel rewards? Check out Grant’s article on choosing the right travel rewards credit card.
Hotel: $601.26
We stayed at the Condado Plaza Hotel, which is right on the beach and not too far from Old Town. It also was fairly close to the Convention Center, which was important for us.
In terms of the hotel cost, we did pay a negotiated rate for the conference, so it was a little lower than the rate available online. Additionally, we got a $200 resort credit for using our Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card. We actually stayed a total of 5 nights, so that took off $40/night.
The hotel is not officially a Hilton hotel but is associated with the Hilton Honors program. It’s really a quite confusing relationship, especially since the hotel previously was considered a true Hilton property. In fact, we stayed here in 2017 after a Southern Caribbean cruise. And, we may stay here again when we return for another Southern Caribbean cruise in February 2025.
So, the total of $601.26 is our out-of-pocket expense for two nights. It would have been $681.26 without the resort credit. While I don’t have the “normal” rate for the time of our visit, I will say that one night in February 2025 will be $467.17 – with the resort credit, we’ll again save $200 off that price. (The resort credit can be used twice a year; January-June and July-December.)
This hotel is definitely more expensive than we generally like to pay. But, once the resort credit is applied, it’s actually cheaper than the other Hilton hotels. And, we like the Condado area. It’s about a two-mile, easy walk to the San Juan National Historic Site and Old Town. And, it’s a great part of town that feels very safe.
Food: $253.41
For this amount, I added the food purchased in the St. Thomas airport as we waited for our flight to San Juan. I also included dinner for two nights (one at our hotel and one in the T-Mobile District), lunch for one day near Old Town and another lunch at the airport as we were waiting to depart for home.
Breakfast was included at our hotel since we are Diamond Members (another great perk of the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card).
I’ll also note that we were in San Juan for our 14th wedding anniversary and we did splurge on a meal at Marmalade Restaurant and Wine Bar. I did not include the cost of that dinner since it was definitely a splurge for a special occasion that we specifically budgeted for.
If you are looking to splurge on a meal, we enjoyed absolutely everything about our dinner at Marmalade. From the service to the food and drinks, the entire meal was pretty much perfect.
Transportation: $45
This is the one area that is a bit of an estimate. We did not rent a car while we were in San Juan. Upon arrival, we took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. After that, we either walked or took an Uber everywhere we went.
We did, however, rent a car when we left San Juan. I am not including that time or expense in this breakdown, though.
So, my total of $45 is for two rides between the hotel and airport and one ride from Old Town to the hotel. We did, in fact, walk to the San Juan National Historic Site and then get an Uber back to the hotel.
Honestly, we preferred the ease of Uber. But you can get a taxi fairly easily from certain areas. For us to get around between the Condado area, the Convention Center and Old Town, we averaged about $10 per ride. It was $15-20 to and from the airport.
If you are staying farther outside the city or want to do anything other than visit the national park site, you will likely want to rent a car. If you are interested, our six-day car rental cost about $95.86/day.
Miscellaneous: $91.19
Really, the only other expense we had was the cost of the Lyft to get home from the airport, which was somehow exactly the same price as the trip down. At least we know Lyft prices are consistent!
Note: We saved $10/person on the entrance fee for the San Juan National Historic Site since we have a Military Lifetime Pass, thanks to Grant’s time in the Army. There are many different passes available, either for free or for a one-time or annual fee.
Return Flight Home: $456.40
Our return flight from San Juan to Atlanta was $456.40 on Delta. This brings our total to visit San Juan to $1,447.26 for two nights.
Total Cost to Visit the Caribbean National Parks
Adding all of this up brings us to a total of $5,669.14 for eight nights visiting the six national park sites in the Caribbean.
| Flights | $1,226.20 |
| Lodging | $1,990.52 |
| Meals | $1,235.22 |
| Other Transportation | $644.62 |
| Tour | $226.20 |
| Miscellaneous | $346.38 |
That was three nights in St. Croix, three nights in St. John and two nights in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
We saved a little bit of money by taking advantage of credit card rewards ($440 plus breakfast in San Juan). Honestly, we could have redeemed points for a few other things, but that wouldn’t have necessarily been the best use of those points.
Instead, we were happy to earn points on this trip, which we will redeem on future travel.
Could we have saved money? Absolutely. We, likely, could have found less expensive hotels and we definitely could have spent less on food and drinks.
But we also could have very easily spent more on both of those things.
So, I’d guess we are in the “average” in terms of how much this trip realistically would cost for most couples.
We’ve considered taking this trip for many years. Honestly, the cost is what always held us back. When we had the opportunity for this conference, we knew we needed to just make it work.
Yes, it put a dent in our travel savings account. But, it was a great trip that we will remember for a lifetime.
We absolutely love visiting the national parks and are amazed by all the history we have learned, the culture we have experienced and the natural beauty we have enjoyed. For us, the price is worth it for the experiences and memories we hold.
| Check out all of our articles on visiting the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico |
|---|
| How to Visit the National Park Sites in St. Croix |
| Visiting Virgin Islands National Park in St. John |
| Touring the San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico |
| A One-Week Itinerary for Visiting the Caribbean National Parks |
| Six Puerto Rico Day Trips from San Juan |
| An Overnight Visit to Vieques, Puerto Rico |
Travel Resources
What do you use to find a flight?
We use Skyscanner to find deals on flights. Skyscanner has a great interface and compares tons of airlines for the best pricing and routing. That said, it does not always have every airline and some airlines will have better deals on their website. Still, Skyscanner is a great place to start.
Click here to search for a flight.
What do you use to find a hotel?
We typically stay at Hilton properties, so we use the Hilton website. You can find good Hilton Honors discounts or AAA discounts for a hotel there. We make great use of our free night certificates from our Hilton Honors American Express.
Click here to book a Hilton property.
If there are no Hilton properties available, we use TripAdvisor to read reviews and book the hotel. We find we can get the best price that way.
Click here to search for a hotel.
We recently partnered with Stay22 to add interactive maps to each of our destination posts. This will allow you to see a plethora of hotels and vacation rentals all in one responsive map of the area.
Click here to search an interactive map.
What if I need more space than I can get at a hotel?
We use Vrbo for the times when we have rented a cabin for a weekend getaway, like this cabin in Townsend, TN, or needed to rent a house for a large family vacation. We had a great experience with them in terms of refunding deposits when COVID hit and will continue to use them.
Click here to search for a vacation rental.
Who do you use for rental cars?
As a general rule, we book with Hertz for rental cars. We have had nothing but good experiences with them. Plus, we really like unlimited mileage and not worrying about crossing state lines. We have even rented from Hertz overseas in both Slovenia and Croatia.
Click here to book a rental car.
How about booking a cruise?
We have found some amazing prices for booking a cruise through Cruise Direct. We have saved a lot of money on our cruises compared to what we found elsewhere, making a last-minute Bahamas cruise even cheaper.
Click here to book a cruise.
What if I want to rent an RV?
We highly recommend Outdoorsy for RV rentals. We rented a camper van for a week to visit Rocky Mountain National Park for the elk rut and Custer State Park for the Buffalo Round-Up and had a blast. The program was easy to use and we really enjoyed the freedom of having a camper van for that trip.
Click here to rent an RV.
What do you use for booking tours?
We don’t often book tours. Typically, we like to do stuff on our own. That said, there are some experiences you can’t have any other way. So, when we do want to book a tour, we always check Viator first.
Click here to book a tour.
Do you use anything to get discounts on the road?
We make extensive use of both Good Sam and AAA on the road. Good Sam is normally regarded as a discount card for RVers at campgrounds and Camping World but anyone can use the 5 cents off a gallon at the pump at both Pilot and Flying J.
Click here to get a Good Sam membership.
We have had AAA as long as we have been married and it has more than paid for itself in discounts at hotels, aside from the peace of mind of having roadside assistance. Add in paper maps and the ability to get an international driver’s license and it is more than worth it for any traveler out there.
Click here to get a AAA membership.
Where can I get Travel Insurance?
We have partnered with Global Rescue for travel and evacuation insurance. This provider will put you out of the worst situations and get you to medical care promptly. You can even purchase “cancel for any reason” insurance from Global Rescue. This is our go-to provider of travel insurance. Traveling somewhere dangerous? They will even extract you if war were to break out on your trip.
Click here to get Global Rescue for your upcoming trip.
